dieselcruiserhead

Hi guys,

I'm looking at a '89 pickup tomorrow. I am ecstatic, about the third thread I've posted with misc questions on the Land Cruiser boards I hang out on, but thought I would post here too. Goal is a strong daily driver / wheeler that can handle some of the tougher stuff but is not a rock crawler. I live up in Northern Utah and take some southern Utah trips. I have a built Cruiser project for more technical stuff, so this will be a DDer that I can haul stuff but also take down south and wherever for more road riding and to keep me happy until I finally finish the cruiser project.

The truck itself is a '89 V6 5 speed regular cab, one of my favorite colors and seems to run great. I have inspected it but not had the chance to drive it yet. It has a newer engine (unfortunately unsure what year, but runs well) with maybe 100K on it, new clutch, headers and some other little tweaks to supposedly make the engine run very well (I test drive it tomorrow). It has 30k miles on it since the new engine so it is solid. I've seen the truck, it has nearly no rust but is a little abused and neglected but I think in a day of light mechanical work I can get it pretty dialed and brought back to its glory. It has about 235K on it currently... Really the only issues I can think of are a light body lift (that I'll probably scrap), the front right fender is a little banged up, found a used replacement right color and everything for $65 locally, and the front diff is blown. I need to run the VIN to see what gear ratio it has but I'll shoot for 4.10 most likely for right now/out of the box. It was a V6 option though so hopefully it has a 4.56 stock if I'm lucky.


Let me know your thoughts on my build ideas. Don't have a ton of $$ but want to do it right.

Ideal truck I think is:

Suspension tweaked to healthily and proportionately run 32" or narrow 33" tires. Probably stock with a Roger Brown spacer or possibly Old Man Emu. Sounds like Old Man Emu is the cats meow, I also have a good friend who is an Old Man Emu dealer so I can get a very good deal.

32" or 33" narrow possibly. I have a set of 17" FJ Cruiser wheels and found some very lightly used narrow 32-33" x 17 off a Jeep Rubicon, mud terrain (I'd prefer all but that is OK).

Locker in the rear, probably a Toyota E-Locker in the housing.

Marlin or Trail-Gear 4.7 gear kit in the t-case. Looks like I'll have to swap to a 4cyl t case with the adapter?

Probably 4.88s eventually for more power (but I would like to be able to cruise well at 75mph -- let me know your thoughts on this).

I am all for safe and fun off roading but would also like to be able to get up to speed on some of these trails and dirt roads, run 35-40 cleanly and not get rattled around too much. Sounds like OME is the ticket for that too? Again a tough universal light-medium wheeler, not too much $$ into it (I can do all this myself) but nice and clean and reliabble.

And that should be about it... Let me know your thoughts!



Thanks!

norcalsvx

my truck does a little of everything i ran the BJ spacers, OME torsions and fenders to fit 33x10.50 w/ the rear stock

check my sig for my mods

Sonofmayhem

I have Allpro front bumper, Trailgear skid(duals too), Marlin rear bumper, homemade sliders, 33x10.5s, a loc right, and a turbo. Yeah it'll wheel

Redeyejedi

nice!!! ^^^^

CC_yota

If it has had a newer engine put in, unless it's another 3.0, then the body lift may be necessary to clear the intake plenum.

If it is necessary you could go with ball joint spacers and then uncrank the torsion bars back down to stock height and get a good amount of flex out of the IFS. Couple that with a good, close to stock height, rear spring you should have a nice setup.

And, if you plan on changing out the torsion bars get the OME. They seem to be a good compromise of flex and ability to hold the extra of bumpers and winches. I have the 25mm SAW's and they suck up bumps like nobody's business (and dont ride as bad as people say), but I can't stuff a front wheel to save my life.

dieselcruiserhead

Thanks for the messages guys.

I am pretty pumped, I picked up the truck today. It is a newer used 3.0 with about 100K miles according to the PO who I believe. The only thing mildly annoying to me is it had header exhaust gasket leaks which will be a PITA to replace but such is life... Surprisingly has some good pep (better than other 3.slows I've driven) with the headers, air cleaner, and a Gibson exhaust...

On the suspension front, it is bone stock. I have some "credit" with my buddy who is an Old Man Emu dealer but even at cost I am having sticker shock.. Not sure I want to put that much into it right now. The truck has an actually-respectably-done 2" body lift that looks pretty good actually, not sure if I want to go through the hassle of undoing it. The truck with the body lift and a 2" suspension would be too big for my tastes I think. The suspension on these is tucked up enough that you can get away with a lot from the stock suspension in my opinion.

Also, it is just a regular cab, no cap, no winch and bumpers; so in all it is very light. I'm thinking the Old Man Emu would be overkill anyway so I think I'll stick with stock. Or possibly the 1.5" balljoint spacers, maybe a small block in the rear, or buck up for the OME leafs in the rear only, and that is it to keep the softer stock torsion bars. It does sort of ride like crap right now (or is at least bouncing around like crazy and there is annoying lean) with the stock suspension though. As its currently adjusted, the A-arms ends are only 1-2" lower than the center diff cross member, but the truck sits good but there is obviously a lot more room to go. The shocks look like 10 year old Rancho 5000s so I would be psyched to get these replaced ASAP.

I'm wondering if I leave the stock torsion bars even at their current settings and just invest in the BJ spacers, if some simple shocks would make a good difference? I was thinking Old Man Emu again but I'll be close to $300 in shocks which seems retarded... DoeutchTech? Bilstein 5100s (that are only about $50 each if I remmeber correctly), Anyone Else??

So, any good shock recommendations?!

Time to start tweaking and thanks for everyone's advice! I'll post some pics of it tomorrow when I get a chance to take pics...

norcalsvx

i run the bilstiens 5100 and they seem to work pretty well, if you are building it on the cheap (and you already have a 2" bl) just get some bj spacers/new shocks (relax torsions a little for a softer ride) and fix what is broke on the IFS and run some nice 31 mudders

drguitarum2005

My truck is my DD but has handled everything I've thrown at it so far. It's got 3-4" of suspension lift from Bilstein shocks + OME coils up front and Bilstein 5125 shocks + 63" Chevy leafs in the rear. I run 33x12.5" BFG all-terrains (though mudders would help me a little more) and have the factory elocker in the rear. it is pretty bulletproof in my opinion but still handles fine on the road. I also have a custom-made front bumper and some home-made sliders for protection (worth every penny spent on them)

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

If you still want faster capibilities on trails, look at dual factory cases over the 4.7 in the t-case. The crawling is great for obsticles but is incovient between obsticles when 4h is to high and 4l is too much gear. IMHO

dieselcruiserhead

Good to know...

Matt16

Remember only to use OME shocks with OME springs. I thought it was marketing, but it isn't. OME uses stiff springs and soft shocks, whereas other shocks are often stiffer.

dieselcruiserhead

Here is the truck... Again, a 2" body lift and that's it 32" BFGs. Take a look at the front end and notice how relaxed it is (it is also covered in oil from the diff exploding which I will be replacing shortly...)

The shocks are old Rancho 5000s and the truck rides decent but more or less "like ass," really bounces around over bumps despite the springs seeming relatively soft. I wish it didn't have the body lift, this is about the ideal height I figure, not sure if it will be a PITA or not to remove the body lift...

I have quite a bit of experience with Old Man Emu, mostly from Land Cruisers. I agree about the soft shocks / stiff springs, so maybe I should go ahead and do Bilsteins up front... The issues with Bilstein is there is a stock and 3-4" lift shock and that is it.. I do not need high travel but am worried the stock length is not that good an idea? It also looks like the stock is a blue/yellow shock whereas the 5100s are a chrome color (and that is what they sell in the 3-4" lift range, it looks like only. So the stock shock doesn't seem to be a 5100. Not sure if that matters or not... )

norcalsvx

^^ the front looks higher than the rear

dieselcruiserhead

Kind of hard to tell but iti s the road its on, it has a slight gradual incline to the back.. It is pretty level. But definitely higher in the front than most pickups that have a tinge of stink bug to them

nosecondz

is it lifted at all? if not do the 33 rub.

hurley842002

Nice lookin truck

dieselcruiserhead

Figured out why it was handling like crap... The rear shocks are blown I couldn't bring myself to replace parts for a stock truck. The fronts are leaking but still doing their job. I ordered the Roger Brown spacers that should be here in a couple days, and a complete Old Man Emu rear. Will probably match the front with some Bilsteins But again need to figure out which ones, the slightly too short or the slightly too long. Will probably just do the slightly too short and have some nice up travel

I have one worn 32" BFG, found and picked up a nice used one on Craigslist yesterday, so now I have have a matching spare Going to pressure wash and paint the wheels something. Technique will be probably deflate the tires and push in the beads, paint the wheels, black or charcoal grey or something, let dry, then reinflate...

Picked up new exhaust manifold gaskets from NAPA that look stout and OEM quality (all metal). So those should go in in the next day or two or next week some time. Relevant thread... https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...engine-141733/

It really does run very well, even with the 4.1s and the 7000 feet of altitude here it has plenty of power and seems to run great. The only thing mildly annoying is high reving when its cold in the morning, probably a vaccuum leak somewhere so I'm going to ahve to figure out where